John Joseph Hughes, III

John Joseph Hughes III (Written by Mark Hughes) My father, John Hughes, was born in Kansas City, Missouri, on a chilly April day, the 21st, in 1931, deep into the Depression. He grew up without the benefit of siblings or the surety of a constant set of childhood friends, as his parents moved from one KC neighborhood to another during his elementary and high school years. Undeterred by this, he became an Eagle Scout, taught herpetology at Camp Osceola, and ended up with a life-long set of high school friends. Around that time, he discovered jazz and came to know and appreciate several of the great KC Jazz musicians-Charlie Parker, Count Basie, and Jay McShann, a love that continued throughout his life. He served in the US Marines in San Diego in ’48 and ’49, and then followed a girlfriend to Kansas State University. That part didn’t go so well; they broke up within two weeks. For Phyllis Jean Broman, however, that turn of events worked out well. She and my father were introduced by mutual friends, fell in love, and married after they graduated, on August 14th, 1954. Sixty-six years of marriage followed. In college, my father played the role of Happy in Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman and received high praise for his performance. He had an opportunity to pursue that career path but decided to sleep in the morning of his audition instead. My father leaves behind the love of his life, my mother, two children, Mark and Kathy, two grandchildren, Robin and Alex, and two great-grandchildren, Leif and Viktor. My father loved sports and was thrilled to see the Chiefs win two Super Bowls, the Royals win two World Championships, and Kansas State climb to the top of the league’s football hierarchy. More importantly to him, he also leaves behind the legacy of passing down the values of honesty, humility, and integrity, principles he lived by his entire life. He saw the world. As a sales manager, he traveled to Europe, the Middle East, India, Thailand, Australia, and New Zealand. Asked in his final days the place in the world he liked best, he named the north island of New Zealand. My father cheated death many times. He just missed being sent to Korea during the police action there. The platoon he’d been part of suffered a 90% casualty rate. Then, like his father before him, who died of a heart attack at 66, my father too suffered from that malady. Having taken care of himself better though (he stopped smoking at around the age of thirty-five) he survived his heart attacks and went on to live several more decades. But he couldn’t cheat death forever. As Emily Dickinson wrote, since he could not stop for Death, Death stopped for him. That event took place on October 11th, 2020, a day all who knew him will long rue. Private services will be held at a later date. Memorials have been established with Meals On Wheels and The Lord’s Diner. Arrangements by Downing & Lahey Mortuary West.